September 1, 2014

EP. 45 — Secrets That Created the World

Did you know James Buchanan promised to write a letter explaining every secret about his life, and then at the last minute had it destroyed? Or that the concept of “nuclear winter” was a load of B.S. invented by the KGB? Or that Diane Lane had to read the ‘Man of Steel’ script in extreme confidentiality, even though it’s basically the worst movie of the last ten years? The world is full of secrets — in a way that’s deeply creepy and probably counterproductive. And, on today’s podcast, Cracked editors Jack O’Brien, Daniel O’Brien and Soren Bowie bring together as many of those secrets as they can to see if they aren’t all a little ridiculous.

 

In fact, there are so many secrets in this episode that there’s a whole ‘nother person providing extra ones. “Mike” is a U.S. border agent and former undercover operative working against Mexico’s drug cartels. He (OR SHE????) was featured on the site before in a hit personal experience article (read it here: www.cracked.com/article_21257_5-i…rcover-agent.html) and on the podcast they go further into exactly how sneaky they needed to be in the shady, terrifying world of battling drug runners, human traffickers and more.

 

From there, we pick apart the biggest secrets of our time — why do only two people get to know the recipes for KFC and Coke? Did a secret government operation kill off key Italian political figures after World War II? Was all that official hand-wringing about WikiLeaks just a smokescreen for governments feeling really embarrassed? Find out before we’re kidnapped and carted off to black sites by throwing on your headphones and clicking play above.

Recent Episodes

January 26, 2020

Freedom sucks…and that is why we have to defend it. Because our democracy involves doing a lot of stuff that takes energy, takes time, and lacks that Michael Bay Quality that only a surprise missile launch can provide. So on this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt and special guest Jason Pargin (who writes for Cracked as David Wong) are exploring the ways being afraid of everything (an easy action) can stop us from being free. Discover the decades-long tradition of some Americans wanting to give up everything in exchange for not needing to think, the centuries-long tradition of people inciting fake panics, and the reasonable ways you can help change things for the better.

Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/why-fear-based-democracies-arenE28099t-free-with-jason-pargin/

January 19, 2020

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Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/5-parts-u.s.-economy-that-are-stranger-than-you-think

January 12, 2020

Movies, TV, gaming: three things that are theoretically a waste of time. Oh sure, they deliver value in the art sense, and comfort in the goofing-off sense. But what if they’re more valuable than that? What if consuming shows and playing video games (accidentally) turns people into real-life heroes? On this episode of The Cracked Podcast, Alex Schmidt is joined by comedians/writers Caitlin Gill and Alex Watt for a look at the surprising number of times that exact thing happened. They’ll explore stories of regular people who saved a life thanks to skills gained randomly from cartoons, sitcoms, ‘World Of Warcraft’, and more silly entertainment.

Footnotes: https://www.cracked.com/podcast/9-times-pop-culture-accidentally-taught-people-to-save-lives/